International Conference on Chemical, Biological and Environment Sciences (ICCEBS'2011) Bangkok Dec.
, 2011
Role of mass media in promotion of
environmental awareness along with skill
development among the rural people of
Shringverpur, Allahabad district, India
Nimish Kapoor
AbstractRural development and poverty alleviation are closely
linked. Mass media are playing significant role in creating
environmental awareness and information about new agricultural
technologies among the rural people. In Shringverpur village of
Soraon tehsil of Allahabad district, 66% of the rural people were
uneducated and ratio of illiteracy was higher for female. Present
study was designed especially to assess the role of different
information channels in generation of environmental awareness and
skill development among the rural people of Shringverpur village.
During study, approximately 40% of the respondents preferred
television programmes whereas 26% of the rural people showed their
interest in radio programmes. Hence, information channels can play a
important role to bridge the gap between science and society.
Keywords Environmental awareness, mass media, rural
development.
I. INTRODUCTION
A GRICULTURE is the mainstay of the Indian economy
and approximately half of the Indian population still gets
their livelihood directly from agriculture. Most of India's poor
live in rural areas and are engaged in agriculture. Climate
change and food security have become burning issues in the
world. Continued deforestation is a major challenge for forests
and livelihood and one of the major causes of environmental
degradation in India can be attributed to rapid growth of
population, which is adversely affecting the natural resources
and environment (7). The projected population indicates that
India will be the first most populous country in the world and
China will be second in 2050 (4). If the world population
continues to multiply, the impact on environment will be
devastating. The growing trends of population and consequent
demand for food, energy and housing have considerably
altered land - use practices and severely degraded forest area
as well as environment. These include pressure on land and
forests, loss of biodiversity, rising demand for energy, global
warming, climate change, water scarcity and pollution.
For agricultural development, knowledge and information
Nimish Kapoor is Scientist C Gender and Technology Communication
Division Vigyan Prasar Department of Science and Technology, Government
of India Noida - 201 309, Uttar Pradesh, India E. mail :
nimish2047@gmail.com.
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on farm technologies, methods and practices need to be
imparted to the farmers at the right time. The potential of mass
media for influencing knowledge gain, public attitude and
behaviour has been well recognized through several research
studies (5). Mass media (electronic and print media) are
playing very important role in creating environmental
awareness and dissemination of new agricultural technologies
among the rural people (2). Different information tools like
radio, television and news paper are spreading awareness
related to climate change and environment protection among
the rural people at the faster rate than personal contact. The
production and distribution of printed materials such as book,
magazines, newspaper and brochure may help in transfer of
new informations and technologies whereas radio and
television are the important tools for dissemination of quick
information. It has been observed that the modern mass media
are flourishing now-a-days in our country but these are not
performing the expected role among the rural people due to
several reasons like higher illiteracy percentage, gender
inequity, lack of electricity and new electronic media devices
in rural and remote areas. Unfortunately, it has been observed
that technologies are available at technology producing
centers but not effectively transferred to the ultimate users.
The present paper highlights the need and significance of the
mass media in creating environmental awareness and
dissemination of new technologies among the rural people.
Therefore, emphasis should be laid upon the proper utilization
of information channels for dissemination of knowledge and
information related to the environment and agricultural
technologies among the rural people for the development of
rural areas.
II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
The systematic survey was conducted in Shringverpur
village of Soraon tehsil, Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh,
India during November 2010 - June 2011 to assess the role of
mass media in dissemination of knowledge and awareness
among the rural people about the environment related issues
and reach of modern agriculture technologies in the
Shringverpur village.
 International Conference on Chemical, Biological and Environment Sciences (ICCEBS'2011) Bangkok Dec., 2011
A. Interview with the local people
Shringverpur is located in Soraon tehsil of Allahabad
district, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is 40 kms far from Allahabad
district and situated in Allahabad - Lucknow highway. The
entire study was based on the interview and group discussion
with the local people of Shringverpur, Allahabad district,
Uttar Pradesh about their knowledge on environment, climate
change, conservation of natural resources and new farming
technologies. Interview and group discussion were made to
test the effectiveness of the information channels (radio,
television, news paper and meetings) in knowledge
dissemination among the rural people of the area. During the
survey, two hundred rural people were selected as respondents
from the Shringverpur village for study. Respondents
comprising of 120 male and 80 female were randomly
selected between the age - group of 28 - 55 years for the study
(Table - I). A brief group discussion and interview were made
with the respondents in their local language prior to data
collection to get their consent and to explain them that their
cooperation is a valuable contribution. Role of information
channels in generation of environmental awareness and skill
development among the rural people was also studied during
the study. Questionnaire was used during the study for
collection of the information from the respondents and results
of the responses were summarized in form of percentage
(Table - III).
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The systematic survey of Shringverpur village of Soraon
tehsil was conducted to assess the knowledge of the rural
people about the climate change and conservation of natural
resources and role of different information channels (radio,
television and news paper) in dissemination of environmental
awareness and agricultural technologies among the rural
people of the area. During survey, two hundred rural people
were selected as respondents from the Shringverpur village of
Soraon tehsil for the study. Respondents comprising of 120
male and 80 female were randomly selected between the age -
group of 28 - 55 years for study. A brief group discussion and
interview were made with the respondents in their local
language for data collection. During the study, it was observed
that agriculture was the main occupation of the rural people of
Shringverpur village and most of the respondents 62 % had
small - land holdings while 9 % of the rural people had large
land - holdings (Table - I). It was also observed that weeding,
winnowing, cleaning and leveling of the field, transplanting,
manure application, cleaning and storage of the grains in
which the participation of women was more than 85%. The
information about their knowledge and understanding on
climate change and conservation of natural resources was
collected by conducting interview and group discussion with
the local people. The majority of the respondents
approximately 66% had no formal education and they were
illiterate. 24.5% had primary school level education up to 5th
standard, 7.5% had secondary school level education and only
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2 % of the respondents had University level education (Table -
II).
Awareness of the rural people about environment
protection through mass media
During survey, it was found that television and radio were
the most preferred information tools in the Shringverpur
village of Soraon tehsil and utilized by 39.5% and 26 % of the
respondents respectively whereas 10 % rural people preferred
meeting with the scientists and 17% people showed their
interest in practical demonstration/ campaign by the scientists
and experts. Approximately 40 % of the rural people preferred
television programmes as it can be used by both literate and
illiterate persons. Superiority of television over the other
communication channels might be due to the ease of learing
through the visual mass medium (3). It was also found that
rural people were interested in practical demonstrations,
meetings and group discussions with scientists in comparison
to utilizing other modern tools of media. The data reveal that
majority of the respondents of the study area had low level of
knowledge about the environment protection and conservation
of natural resources but they were aware about the adverse
effects of climate change on their agriculture and domestic
animals although knowledge level of women was higher in
comparison to the men. Further, training and extension
programmes need to be improved among the rural people of
the study area to enhance their awareness and knowledge level
regarding the conservation of natural resources and utilization
of safe and eco - friendly farming technologies. Training
programmes should be supplemented with video, posters,
seminars and practical demonstrations by the experts. Literacy
level of the study area should be increased as 66 % of the
respondents were uneducated and illiteracy ratio was higher
for female. Governmental and non - governmental
organizations can play a significant role for improvement in
the environmental awareness and knowledge level of the
villagers.
Role of Vigyan Prasar in dissemination of environmental
awareness and technology communication
Vigyan Prasar, a National Institute of Science and
Technology Communication under the Department of Science
and Technology, Government of India has initiated several
programmes on Gender and Technology Communication to
promote environmental and technology awareness among the
masses and to develop and disseminate quality resource
material and eco - friendly technologies for the stakeholders
especially rural people. The vision behind the communication
programmes is to create a nation free of ignorance and
irrationality and by proper utilization of the available
technology, rural people can enhance their income generation
opportunities. Vigyan Prasar is developing resource material
like radio programmes, films and training modules to make
stakeholders (farmers, rural women, tribal people and youth)
independent so that they can accept the challenges of climate
change. The aim of dissemination of low cost and eco -
friendly technologies among the stakeholders is to build the
capabilities among them and improve their technical
 International Conference on Chemical, Biological and Environment Sciences (ICCEBS'2011) Bangkok Dec., 2011

knowledge, decision making capacity and promote them for [5] Prathap, D. P. and Ponnusamy, K. A. 2006. Effectiveness of four mass
media channels on the knowledge gain of rural women. Journal of
innovation and help in their overall development through International Agricultural and Extension Education. 13 (1) : 73 - 81.
science and technology intervention. In India, there is low [6] Ray, H. 1978. The basic village education project: Guatemala.
extension worker - farmer ratio is resulting in less direct Washington, D.C: Academy for Educational Development.
[7] UNDP. 1998. Unequal Impacts of Environment Damage. Human
contacts between the change agents and farmers (1). As
Development Report 1998, Oxford University Press, New York.
deficient information always impeded growth and
development in the rural sector (6) so there is responsibility of
mass media to discharge the duty of technology transfer more
Nimish Kapoor is a Scientist and Science Communicator in Gender &
intensively in future. The programmes on gender and Technology Communication Division of Vigyan Prasar (National Institute of
technology communication may catalyze science and Science & Technology Communication) under Department of Science &
technology communication in mass media and improve the Technology, Government of India. His work profile include conceptualization
and execution of nation wide campaigns and training programmes on science
conditions of rural masses (majority in India) to build their and technology communication and development of resource material (films,
capabilities by improving their technical skills. It will only be radio programmes, manuals and books etc.) for capacity building and skill
possible when appropriate literature and technologies will be development of stakeholders like farmers, women, youth, rural and urban
Indian masses on science, technology, agriculture and environment related
produced and disseminated at grass root level with proper issues. He has published more than 200 popular science articles in different
utilization of mass media. science magazines and co - editor of a book on science writing. Mr. Kapoor is
life - member of different national level academic societies. He is recipient of
IV. CONCLUSION several awards for popular science writing and outreach activities (e. mail :
nimish2047@gmail.com).
In conclusion, it can be said that different sources of mass
media were not fully utilized in the studied area which
hindered not only the awareness level of the respondents but
also adversely affected the adoption level of new farming
technologies by the rural people. There is urgent need for
effective mass communication strategies to create
environmental awareness and extention of agriculture based
technologies among the rural people in Shringverpur village,
Allahabad district in order to improve their financial status.
Some functional action plans have to be chalked out and
environmental awareness programmes at grass root level
should be introduced in the area to educate the local -
communities about the conservation of natural resources. In
this condition, role of media in science communication and
out - reach based agencies are very crucial to bridge the gap
between science and society and efforts of these agencies may
guide media industry to conceptualize and produce more
television and radio programmes on success stories of eco -
friendly technologies and environment related issues with
their local threat and solution.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author is thankful to Er. Anuj Sinha, Director, Vigyan
Prasar, Deapartment of Science and Technology, Noida for his
continuous encouragement and desirable suggestions. The
author is also grateful to the rural people of Shringverpur
village for their active participation and co-operation during
the survey study.

REFERENCES
[1] Chandrashekara, P. 2001. Mass media in agricultural extension: Best, yet
to come. Manage Extension Research Review. 38 - 44.
[2] Forno, D. A. 1999. Sustainable development starts with agriculture. In
:Sustainable agriculture solutions: The action report of the sustainable
agriculture initiative. London: Novello Press Ltd. pp. 8 - 11.
[3] Kumari, A. 1999. Rural womens perception about mass media
effectiveness. Journal of Extension Education. 10 (1) : 2265 - 2268.
[4] Population Reference Bureau. 2001. World population data sheet,
Washington, D.C.

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 International Conference on Chemical, Biological and Environment Sciences (ICCEBS'2011) Bangkok Dec., 2011

TABLE I
SOCIO - PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESPONDENTS OF SHRINGVERPUR VILLAGE OF SORAON TEHSIL, ALLAHABAD DISTRICT.
S. No. Variable Categories Number of
respondents (N)

1. Age Young (<30) 65 0.08

Middle ( 31 - 40) 92 0.05

Old (>50) 53 0.02

2. Type of family Joint family 172 0.27

Nuclear family 28 0.02

3. Annual family income Below 25,000 97 0.14

(Rs.)
30,000 - 40,000 74 0.03

50,000 - 60,000 29 0.06

4. Land holding Small 124 0.35

Medium 59 0.07

Large 17 0.01

Values are mean of three replicates sem.

TABLE II
DISTRIBUTION OF THE RESPONDENTS ACCORDING TO THEIR EDUCATIONAL STATUS.
S. No. Educational status Number of respondents (N)

Male Female

1. Illiterate 59 0.05 73 0.08

2. Primary 35 0.09 14 0.04

3. Middle 12 0.08 3 0.02

4. Graduation 4 0.93 0.00 0.00

Values are mean of three replicates sem.

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 International Conference on Chemical, Biological and Environment Sciences (ICCEBS'2011) Bangkok Dec., 2011

TABLE III
DISTRIBUTION OF THE RESPONDENTS ACCORDING TO THE USE OF DIFFERENT TOOLS OF MASS MEDIA IN DISSEMINATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND
AGRICULTURE BASED TECHNOLOGIES.
S. No. Information channels Number of respondents (N)

1. Radio 52 0.05

(26%)

2. Television 79 0.09

(39.5%)

3. News paper 15 0.01

(7.5%)

4. Seminars/ Meetings 20 0.07

(10%)

5. Campaign/ Practical 34 0.08

demonstration
(17%)

Values are mean of three replicates sem

Figures in parentheses indicate percent inhibition over control.

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